BREAKING NEWS: Jeff Stelling will LEAVE his role as Sky Sports Soccer Saturday host at the end of this season as it's the 'right time to move on' - as presenter follows recent exits of long-time pundits Phil Thompson, Charlie Nicholas and Matt Le Tissier

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Jeff Stelling has announced he will be leaving Sky Sports Soccer Saturday at the end of the season.

The legendary broadcaster has been a mainstay of Soccer Saturday on Sky for nearly three decades, having first joined the programme in 1994 under its previous title of Sports Saturday.

'I've been at Sky for more than 30 years and loved every moment of my time as part of the Soccer Saturday team,' Stelling told Sky Sports.

'It is now the right time to move on and give Sky Sports viewers a break from my relentless rants, bad gags and over the top celebrations of Hartlepool United goals. It's been a lot of fun - for me at least!'

Stelling initially called time on his stint with Soccer Saturday in 2021 after insisting he would depart at the end of that campaign, but the veteran broadcaster ultimately returned for an additional season. 

Jeff Stelling announced he will be leaving Sky Sports and Soccer Saturday at the end of the season 

Much-loved presenter has spent nearly three decades as the face of the weekly programme

'It is groundhog day, it is that time of the year, every year, where I announce I am leaving Sky Sports and Gillette Soccer Saturday. But this time it is true.' Stelling added.

Sky Sports are yet to announce who will replace Stelling as the host of Soccer Saturday. 

Stelling's departure from the much-loved weekly broadcast follows that of his former co-presenters Phil Thompson, Charlie Nicholas and Matt Le Tissier.

The former players were sacked in August of 2020, after Sky elected to undergo a revamp with the programme, in a decision that Stelling called 'one of my saddest days ever at Sky Sports'.

Fellow famed pundit Chris Kamara also departed Soccer Saturday at the end of the last season after revealing that he had been suffering with a speech apraxia disorder.

'My long career at Sky Sports has never felt like work. I've spent 24 terrific years at Sky, and leave with the best of memories,' Kamara said in a statement at the time. 

Stelling's longtime co-presenter Chris Kamara departed Soccer Saturday at the end of last season